Question

6. The post anesthesia care unit is assessing a post-operative client who has just been extubated. Which assessment indicates client is experiencing laryngeal spasm after extudation?

Answer 1

Answer:

The patient is experiencing laryngeal spasm after extubation if the patient shows breathing difficulties, a feeling of suffocation and a hoarse and deep cough.

Explanation:

Maintaining the airways is of fundamental importance for anesthesiologists, particularly during anesthesia induction and after extubation, when laryngeal spasm occurs more frequently.

Laryngeal spasm is the most common cause of airway obstruction after tracheal extubation. When this happens, the patient shows a decrease in the air that crosses the larynx, restricting the vocal cords, which produces breathing difficulties, a feeling of suffocation and a hoarse and deep cough.

In severe cases, with prolonged spasm, therapeutic interventions should be performed and, ultimately, tracheotomy.